


Family

by Torabara



Series: The Circle Forever [1]
Category: Circle of Magic - Tamora Pierce, Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26356864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torabara/pseuds/Torabara
Summary: Of course they were close. They were family.
Relationships: Trisana Chandler & Daja Kisubo & Briar Moss & Sandrilene fa Toren
Series: The Circle Forever [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915261
Kudos: 21





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> Platonic vs Romantic is in the eye of the viewer.
> 
> Still learning. Critique the heck out of it.

He’d never considered that the way they acted around each other was abnormal until someone decided to point it out. Piling on top of each other while watching the sky, bracing each other to lift heavy things, sharing food, and secret conversations through their magical connection, it was all normal for him. Sure, it was a little odd at first for him when he realized his best mates were all girls, but it didn’t matter when he really thought about it. The four of them protected each other, comforted each other.

“You lot are indecent,” the pig-like boy said, snorting arrogantly at them. 

“Whatever could you mean by that?” Sandry replied, voice honey sweet while her eyes glinted with promised venom.

“Look at yourselves! A Trader, a merchant, and a noble all hanging off a thief? It’s near blasphemous!” Actually Briar was the one with an arm draped around Tris and Daja each, while Sandry had been following carefully behind. He’d managed to twist his ankle like some newborn lamb learning to walk. It was not his proudest moment, and he was very irritable because of it. He was about to retort when the pig continued, “You girls must be a bunch of lonely sluts if he’s who yer sleeping with. If your price is low enough, I’ll buy you all and you can come live with me instead.” 

The sudden jump from ‘indecent’ to ‘sluts’ had shocked the girls into a stupor, but Briar had always been quick to action. Briar launched himself at the pompous boy, heedless of his injury. He managed a few good punches that would definitely bruise before Sandry and Daja managed to drag him back. He kept shouting curses at the now prone boy. The assault was so sudden he seemed shocked into silence.

“Do you know how many lives these girls have saved!” Briar shouted, “Do you realize how many times you have probably been saved by them! Each and every one of them are worth one hundred times more in gold than you! So you can shut yer plague damned mouth you inbred pig bastard!” 

It wasn’t until Tris stepped in front of him that his tirade began to slow. “He’s not worth it Briar, let’s just go home.” Even though he could feel in the wind around them that she was angry too, he saw in her eyes that defeated look she got when she was reminded of her time before Discipline, the look that said she knew it was a losing battle.

“But he-”

“Briar,” Daja said. “We are all used to being bad mouthed, you know that. Just let it go.”

It wasn’t until Sandry used both hands to bring his face to hers and smiled at him that he fully relented. 

“It’s just so weird,” the pig-boy whimpered.

“What was that?” Briar growled, his calmness short-lived.

“I mean no one except lovers should be so close to each other! The only explanation is if you bought them!” The pig-boy scrambled to his feet and ran in the opposite direction, tossing a final, ”Unfaithful savages!” behind his shoulder.

Briar asked a nearby tree to trip the boy as he ran, and felt a little better watching him land face first into a mud puddle.

“Briar!” Sandry scolded.

“I’m not sorry! He had no right questioning any of yer honors like he did!”

Daja laughed, tossing his arm back over her shoulder. “I have to admit, it certainly made me feel better.” She waited for Tris to get back under his other arm before they began walking back to Discipline. “But still Briar, you overreacted. Like I said, we’re all used to being badmouthed. It’s not a big deal. That’s why we have each other!”

“You’re starting to sound like Sandry,” Briar replied, ignoring the indignant “Hey!” from behind him. “Besides no one’s gone so far as to question your dignity before.” There was a long answering silence from the girls. “They haven’t!” He cried.

“Having your purity called into question is usually the first thing that happens when you’re a girl,” Sandry mumbled, moving so that she walked in front of the group now.

 _Especially when you’re a noble girl._ Tris whispered through their magical connection.

Sandry squared her shoulders and looked back at them smiling. “I know the truth, and you all know the truth, and everyone who is important knows the truth. That’s all that matters!”

“For me, being _trangshi_ was much worse than what any of those _kaqs_ could call me. Now I don’t care about anyone else’s opinion at all.” Daja said, smiling softly at the emotionally strong blond. 

“I never really cared about anyone’s opinion in the first place,” Tris chimed in, although everyone there knew it was a lie. “After all, I am above their insults.” Briar couldn’t help but chuckle at her brave front. “Besides, I’m not really sure what he was even talking about, it’s not like we’re all kissing everywhere we go together. We just act like all friends do, even if our social standings are a little different.”

Here Briar full-heartedly laughed, “And who was the one scolding Sandry for making friends outside of her social class when we all first met?” Tris started to turn red in the cheeks when Daja joined him in laughter. Sandry just dipped back to loop an arm through Tris’s free one.

“It’s okay Tris, I always knew you didn’t really mean it. It’s all water under the bridge,” she added, glaring at the other two.

Briar tightened his arm around Tris’s in an attempt at a hug, even as he continued chuckling, while Daja tossed her a teasing grin.

When they walked past the creek and Briar saw their reflections, arms intertwined, contented smiles on all their faces, he almost worried that maybe they did appear closer than just ‘close friends’. Then when he looked up and saw those same smiles, he realized they _were_ closer than just close friends. They’d been through so much together already, they were family at this point. Not that he’d ever admit that to them.

 _Too late._ Daja’s fire sang in his mind.

“What?” Startled, Briar looked at her and then the other two. All three of them had the biggest grins he’d ever seen on their faces. Sandry even had tears in her eyes. “Oh, no. I magic-talked that, didn’t I?”

Sandry launched herself at him, arm still entangled with Tris’s, and all four of them fell over in a heap. Daja, who was at the bottom of the pile, was laughing heartily while Tris grumbled and squirmed to get away, cheeks red with embarrassment. Sandry somehow managed to get her arms wrapped around them all as far as she could reach, crying something about how of course they were family and she loved them all and oh she was so happy! While poor Briar, sandwiched between Sandry and Daja, and one arm locked around Tris to prevent her from escaping, just sighed and reveled in the love surrounding him and the family fate had helped him find.


End file.
